Green law changes face broad opposition

The federal government is under fire from Labor, key Senate crossbenchers, environmentalists and even one of its own MPs over plans to limit legal challenges to big mining projects.

The government will ask parliament to amend environmental protection laws to remove the power of indirect third parties from taking ministerial approvals to the courts.

The decision follows a Federal Court challenge that exposed the government's failure to properly consider two endangered species that could have been threatened by the $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine in central Queensland.

The government has labelled such challenges "legal sabotage" and "lawfare".

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says the environmental movement is doing anything it can to stop new coal mines and thousands of jobs.

He said the "good faith" Howard government provision in the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act needed to be fixed.

"We're just saying if people live 1600 kilometres away from a coal mine ... what right do they have to prevent that proposal providing an economic boost to the region?" he told ABC TV.